I think an obvious way to clean up sites and prevent people from scamming and others from losing money is to only allow sites with proper and verified whois information. If it is found out that it is false, the site should not be allowed. If it is a legitimate program, what is there to hide?
A member can report it, if they have done the background check, and then a mod can verify it. I know that will add additional work, but I believe it would be a large step in eliminating scam programs.

Don't know...
Hard to prove false info unless you go drive there.

People need to be responsible for their own DD.

There usually is a phone number and address listed. A home or business phone number should be relatively easy to verify. With that, it is possible to be tracked down to a physical location. If the address is listed, a majority of the time, the owner can be found on the internet. If the two don't match, it is obvious there is foul play.
This really shouldn't be about a member doing DD, it should be MMG providing a way for obvious scams to be eliminated. It is an easy way to clean up the forum, and potentially reduce members being scammed. It will provide more time for a "possibly" higher quality program to be found.
If the whois information is locked, there is something to hide. And it shouldn't be allowed.
I know this would reduce the quantity of traffic to the forum, but it would create a higher quality of traffic.

We can not allow people to put the DD responsibility on us. If we start trying to "verify" certain programs (which is impossible), people will put the blame on MMG if a program dies no matter what anyone says. MMG is a medium for members to discuss different ways to make money online, but we can not provide DD service.

I mentioned in the first post, a member can report that the information is incorrect. And then a mod or admin can verify it.

There is no responsibility to be assumed. If the information is even slightly wrong, it is easy to see. Obviously, it shouldn't be the only determining factor in being a scam, but it is a large step in my opinion in preventing scams.

Thanks for considering it.

ID theft is extremely easy to do on the internet, I don't think any of us would be comfortable "verifying" anyone without visiting them face to face and implanting them with some sort of unremovable GPS tracking device. Maybe not even then...

It was a suggestion as a "step" only in a more positive direction. You're right, nothing is certain.

If I came off a little harsh, I apologize, we certainly appreciate your input.

That said, without doing quality DD, it would simply lead to a false sense of security for people. Additionally, those people who use whoisguard, domainsbyproxy, or any other service when they register their domain names aren't necessarily going to be hiding things. I register domain names fairly regularly with these services, and don't really have anything to hide. There are a lot of crazy people in this world and I prefer they don't know where I live.

I also use DomainsbyProxy. Don't want any lunatic coming up to my house. I would hate to bust a cap in someone's

Well, no I wouldn't....

Whois privacy services like whoisguard and domainsbyproxy should be used for privacy protection. But too bad sometime it used for the wrong purpose by those sicked scammers.

I'm also started to use these privacy services simply because I don't want somebody visit me and place a threat on my family suddently. Many people know me doing business online and some of them may be kipnapper or robber? Who knows?

Yeah, you're never safe from the those people, especialy if someone knows your bussines.

interesting idea but i dont think it is feasible

The privacy part is one big reason but another very legit one is the amount of email and snail-mail spam you receive from having a public reg: it's enormous. God help you if you put your phone number in it, especially a 800 number that you pay by the call for. I get crap every week from the postlady for a domain that expired 2 years ago and non-stop email spam. Then you have the domain-hijackers that a public reg sort of "helps" in stealing a domain at least temporarily.

The only reason to have a public reg is to somehow "legitmize" yourself and that just isn't good enough reason to me. Tons of money is spent on websites with either private reg or clearly bogus info so until there is a steep economic price to pay, people will wisely choose to not have public registrations.

NUK

I really don't understand the reason behind hiding business contact info. I understand privacy, but if it is a legitimate business, success is largely, if not solely, depended on by customer interaction. Businesses want trust, but the customers have to take a leap of faith first?
There has to be a merge between the old fashioned handshake business deal and the modern trend to blindly send currency that gets a support reply with a smiley.
I find the reason that someone recieves spam email or prank phone calls a small price to pay for running a business.
I think it was Chris Rock, who said something somewhat related to this. Talking about his "business" of being a comedian, he said he didn't want a bunch of guards (privacy, in a sense) because it shields him from the contact of the people, and the people is where he gets ideas for jokes and stories. Comedians need people and their reaction. I think this is similar. Businesses need people and they are shielding themselves from them and thereby limiting their success before they even get started.

I understand this is slightly off from the original idea of the thread, but the topic has kind of leaned that way.

Websites are not always badcked by brick and mortar businesses. Would you want your home address broadcast everywhere? Just think about it like that.

Let me second this statement. DO not and NEVER take privacy for granted.
What you are suggesting here is already considered as an invasion of privacy.

I mean while I do agree with you that something need to be done to those scammer out there, but this is defintely not the way. I wont want a bunch of tony's working me out in the middle of the night when something goes wrong.

I don't see the problem with listing a business contact number. It's the "tony's" that are allowing you to make money and continue the business.

Fine, in some instances, the address of a home should be kept secret. I know it is a strict viewpoint, but if you can't accept the responsibility of running a business, you shouldn't do it.

People use the privacy protection, because of identity theft, harassment, spam, and all the other BS that some sick people will do.

Take for instance when a hyip states that they will pay out untill the precentage reaches 90%, say they dont lie land they actually accomplish this goal.
Say their are losers in this hyip (as admin clearly posted that their would be some losers in the end.

If you check out the threads when this happens, you see people making threats, and other things. What is to prevent these people from looking at the persons whois(assuming they dont have it protected) and then actually carrying out their threat?

I know I wouldnt want some damn idiot knocking at my door because he is pissed off, because he doesn't know how to read (if he did he would have read the part in the site where it clearly said their is risk involved and some people will lose money, and there will be no refunds given once the program is over).

So has anyone suggested anything else?

How about a separate category for all the admitted ponzi's that have been formerly known as hyip's?

So there will be admitted ponzi/hyip's, pretending to be legit hyip's, and maybe one or two real hyip's. With the new fad of an "honest" admin, that says payout until a certain time, it may be a time for a new section.

But I still think hyip/ponzi admin need to take responsibility and should be held accountable for at least a business phone number.

That's true, many of us care about anonymity over the net, many crazy people are up to make crazy things so personally prefer to use Private INFO domain names

Giving someone access to your home is not a responsibility of running a business. Providing the service promised is what a business is supposed to do.

And the people seem to have no problem sending loads of money to websites with private registrations. I doubt many even bother to look at the whois info.

NUK

Honestly, don't know how many people besides those who have registered domains knows it exists ..

Even though you do legit business, kipnapper and robber still there waiting to hurt you and your family. If not why those multi-millionaire businessmen always escort with personal security guard?